


Children of Thursday

by DJBunn3



Series: Bruises [3]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Drabble, Filler, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8954617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJBunn3/pseuds/DJBunn3
Summary: The thought of his aunt getting to Hide, even just being near him, is more terrifying than this whole situation. Especially because he has no idea where Hide is, and after their fight there’s a good chance he’s been lurking around.





	

Should he call?  
Kaneki can’t remember the last time he called Hide. Normally it’s the other way around. Does that make him a bad friend?  
There’s no way Hide will stay mad, he thinks. _But how would I know?_ Hide has never, ever gotten mad at him like that. This was probably their first real fight in all their years of friendship.  
What can he do? It’s not like he can follow Hide’s advice. There’s no way to escape from this place, and even though he knows his aunt doesn’t care about his wellbeing, he knows she won’t allow him to leave either.  
His hands are shaking, essentially vibrating, but it’s not his normal hunger pang shaking. It has something to do with Hide and the fight, and it’s somehow terrifying.  
Obviously, Kaneki hadn’t stayed at Hide’s after the fight. He’d walked home in a sort of daze, head spinning. And he’s been staring at his phone ever since he got back a few hours ago.  
_Should I call him?_  
“What’s wrong with you?”  
Looking up, Kaneki is met with a pair of beautiful, narrowed, lightning flecked eyes glaring down at him, thick lips pressed together disapprovingly.  
“I’m sorry?” He stands, but his aunt is still a few inches taller.  
“You’ve been disgustingly mopey since you came back, and it’s bringing down the whole atmosphere in here. You’re going to make your cousin upset!”  
“Sorry, ma’am,” Kaneki apologizes.  
“I don’t want your stupid excuses! I want you to shut up and behave. You’ve been staying out later and later, and last week you talked back to me!”  
“I didn’t mean anything by it!” Kaneki protests. She silences him with a glare.  
“What if your cousin picks up those bad habits from you? God, you’re going to tear this family apart at this rate. If you weren’t so weak willed, I’d have thought you were doing it on purpose.”  
_Is she drunk?_ he wonders. She isn’t making any sense, to be sure. Tear the family apart? When had he ever done something to make her think that?  
But there’s no alcohol on her breath, like there might usually be. She’s perfectly sober, perfectly aware of what she’s saying. Something must have put her in a mood, and Kaneki just happens to be her faithful punching bag.  
“You’re trying to abandon us, aren’t you?” she blames him. Kaneki knows she doesn’t believe her words, though. They’re just things she’s throwing out-- words fueled by blame. “I won’t allow you to do that! I don’t care what you do any more than I did when you first came here, but you’re still my property!”  
_Property._  
“I’m not trying to leave, ma’am!” Kaneki protests, shaking his head weakly.  
“Don’t lie to me!” He flinches at the harsh pitch of her voice. “You disgusting rat! You ungrateful little bug!”  
“I’m not leaving!” he tries again.  
“Don’t talk back to me, child! Where the hell did you pick up such atrocious manners?! Was it from that idiot blonde friend? He'd better not come back if he knows what's good for him.”  
The thought of his aunt getting to Hide, even just being near him, is more terrifying than this whole situation. Especially because he has no idea where Hide is, and after their fight there’s a good chance he’s been lurking around.  
“N-No! Hide hasn’t done anything wrong!”  
“Shut up!” There’s a stinging pressure on his face. “Of course it’s him! Yuuichi never acts as you do, and it’s not as if you have other friends!”  
“Please, leave him alone!” Kaneki pleads.  
“That boy… I almost wish you’d just leave with him already.”  
_What’s her angle?_ Kaneki thinks. First she blames him for trying to leave the family, now she wants him to? The word property floats to the front of his mind again, and he understands in a sick sort of way.  
She won’t allow him to leave, because she loves hurting him.  
“Don’t just stand there!” his aunt screams, and he flinches, closing his eyes in preparation for the hit he knows is coming. It stings just the same.  
“I’m sorry!” he cries, tears springing to his eyes.  
“Be quiet!” Another slap and he’s knocked off his feet, his phone hitting the ground at the same time. His head hits the frame of his bed at the same time he hears the sickening crunch of plastic and class being crushed.  
His aunt moves her foot, and underneath are the remnants of his phone. “Look what you’ve done! You ungrateful brat! What the hell were you thinking?!”  
“It was an accident! Please-”  
Before he can finish, she’s grabbed the first thing she can get her hands on and thrown it at him. A tin eagle statue with a heavy oak base hits him square in the chest, followed by a strewn game controller left around by his cousin. A loud rumble of thunder crashes in the distance, jarring something inside Kaneki’s memory.  
“You’re a disgrace to this family! I can’t believe your attitude! I hope you die!” she yells.  
_I hope so, too_ , Kaneki thinks, flinching as a cross statue flies by his head. He’s absolutely cornered, terrified, and completely alone. She grabs one of his books and throws that, too, and his vision swims when it hits the side of his head.  
Something moves in the corner of his eye, and he glances over to see Yuuichi hovering around the corner. They make eye contact and for a moment, he thinks he’s saved.  
His cousin watches silently, and he understands that he’s not.  
“You and your friend disgust me,” his aunt says finally, kicking his leg to the side. “Don’t you _dare_ bring him around here anymore. I’d better not hear a peep out of either of you from now on, got it?”  
Kaneki can only nod weakly, and he feels a sharp pain when he does so. His world is fuzzing out slowly, and he can only hear those dreadful words and the sound of bottles clinking together in the kitchen before he completely blacks out.  
He dreams about sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

> A short drabble for the Bruises series, meant to be more of a filler while I work on the next major piece. It was lightly inspired by the symbolism behind the day Thursday, including a line from a children's rhyme:
> 
>  
> 
> _Thursday’s child has far to go_
> 
>  
> 
> Thursday symbolizes power and expansion, the alchemical element tin, and the number 3. As well as this, Thursday is known as Thor's day, thunder's day, the day of Jupiter and the day of Zeus, whose symbols include a lightning bolt and an eagle.


End file.
